Doom, Gloom, And Fascism

From Handmaid cosplay to Darwin Awards, it’s all downhill in Austin.

Before we get into what’s been happening this week in the Texas House, I’d like to address some of the discourse surrounding Taylor Lorenz’s Wired article. Whether it’s true or not, I want to let everyone know that no dark money group has ever offered to pay me. The DNC definitely hasn’t offered to pay me. And the State Party hasn’t offered to pay me. In fact, without the Lone Star Left readers, I’d just be another starving artist.

Now, if George Soros offered me $1 million to say James Talarico is awesome, would I take it? I mean. But as long as I’m referring to Republicans as fascist scum, Texas Democrats as the most progressive Democratic Party in America, and the DNC as establishment garbage, I’m probably not “commercial friendly.”

But at least my friends recognize my contributions to journalism.

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This week in the Texas House.

Yes, I’ve been watching. It’s been awful, and I have some clips I put aside for y’all. I’m sure by now you know, the Republicans have passed:

• More abortion restrictions to condemn more women to death.

• Replaced the STAAR test with more extensive aptitude testing.

• Made horse dewormer medicine available over the counter for every tin-foil hat idiot in Texas.

• Banned THC.

• Implemented a urine policing bill.

And other dumb shit. Because Republicans have lost the plot, they’ve gone completely off the rails. They’re extremists who are all influenced by QAnon and billionaire oil men, and they’ll stop at nothing to win their primary campaigns.

House Democrats aren’t playing nice, either. And I thought those would be some of the best clips to highlight from this week.

But first, we need to discuss how the Gilead Wives Club is back together again.

If this scene ⬆️ looks familiar to you, then you’ve probably seen the Hulu series, The Handmaid’s Tale. Specifically, this scene ⬇️ with the wives of Gilead.

For the last several Legislative sessions, when the Republican women would pass bills that took away rights from Texas women and the LGBTQ+ community, they would band together at the front mic, as if to send a message to the world, “We are united in our oppression, therefore it makes it okay.”

Either they got word that we were making fun of them for it, or there was trouble among the club ranks, because we didn’t see them gang up like that all through the regular session this year. But they’re back at it.

And this time, Democratic women are playing their game.

It was glorious. Representative Jessica Gonzalez (D-HD104) called the bill’s author, Angelia Orr (R-HD13), for pushing this extremist bill to thwart a primary challenger. Then Orr cried to Cody Vasut (R-HD26), who was standing in the Speaker’s chair, to make Gonzalez stop.

Orr does have a primary candidate, and that primary candidate is calling Orr a RINO and a weak Republican.

Representative Rafael Anchia (D-HD103) really hit a nerve.

During the closing of an Amendment on SB8, the pee-pee policing bill, that dictates where transgender people can urinate, Anchia quoted some scripture, which was directed right at Republicans.

It was Steve Toth (R-HD15) who was heckling. Toth is currently running for Congress in TX02. This later led to Hillary Hickland (R-HD55) confronting Anchia, and all of the Republicans flocking to her side.

Source: Renzo Downing at the Texas Tribune on Twitter.

Shortly after, Christian Manuel (D-HD22) BASICALLY called Republicans stupid and gave them a much-needed history lesson.

By that point, the entire body was ready to tear each other’s throats out, and they still had four hours in front of them that evening.

Soon, they got to SB7, which criminalizes the manufacturing, mailing, transporting, prescribing, or providing abortion-inducing drugs in Texas.

One clip worth checking out is when Republican David Lowe (HD91) gave a speech on how he was neutral on the bill because they don’t go far enough. Lowe is part of the “abolition movement” which seeks to impose the death penalty on women who have abortion care.

Lowe couldn’t support the bill because it didn’t kill women.

Lowe is also known in Tarrant County to stand outside of polling places with giant posterboards of aborted fetuses. He does not yet have a Democratic challenger.

During that same debate, Jeff Leach (R-HD67) fake cried tears when he heard that women in Texas were scared to get pregnant. Then, blamed the so-called “abortion industry.”

The maternal mortality rate in Texas is 134.4 for Black women and 82.2 for Hispanic women. That’s akin to many third-world countries. That means that it’s safer for women of color in many underdeveloped countries than it is in Texas.

Even recently, studies have shown that Texas’s birth rate decline outpaces the US average.

What Republicans are essentially doing with yet another healthcare restriction is further making it unsafe for women to bear children in Texas. And they thought forcing women to have children would lead to a population boom. In fact, it’s had the opposite effect.

El Paso Democrat Vince Perez (HD77) basically calls Republicans fascists.

I think it’s important to shine a spotlight on this nine-minute speech from Vince Perez, since so many others from the El Paso delegation and border region have gotten so much flak lately. Know that those conversations don’t include Perez, and he’s absolutely wide awake.

Without ever using the word “fascists,” he masterfully described how Republicans were turning Texas into a fascist state. He argued that Republicans are building a surveillance economy where ordinary Texans are deputized to sue each other for cash rewards. He warned how the GOP’s “bounty model” threatens everyone’s freedoms. Today it’s abortion. Tomorrow, he said, it could be THC and hemp products, immigration, IVF, or even guns.

Republicans admit they redraw maps “because we can,” and Perez tied that mindset to the collapse of checks and balances under one-party rule. “That is what raw power divorced from principle looks like,” he said.

It’s an excellent speech, definitely worth the nine minutes.

Another long clip I saved was from Anchia on Wednesday when the Republicans passed HB25, making ivermectin an over-the-counter drug available to every conspiracy-ridden idiot.

Anchia introduced an amendment to rename the bill the “Darwin Award Act,” in honor of the morons who stupidly take themselves out of the gene pool.

It was hilarious, but Republicans got mad and tried to bait him into dumb conversations, but seemingly forgot they were stupid, too. I would call it legislative comedy.

I haven’t given up on watching the Legislature, but ever since the quorum break, the whole thing has completely devolved.

Republicans are going to slam through whatever the hell they want. Democrats are going to talk boocu shit. And maybe next week, I’ll just bundle the best moments into one clippy article (like this one), because until we flip the Texas House, the fascists are running the show, and all Democrats can really do is talk shit (sometimes covertly, like Vince Perez geniusly did this week).

A few of the far-right extremists are pushing for a third special session, but I don’t see that happening right now. Maybe we’ve got two more weeks of these assholes in Austin, perhaps they’ll call sine die early. Either way, I’m ready to turn the page and get to election season. Buckle up, because the blue tsunami is coming. Texas +20.

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